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Modern Modified Calvinism and its Amyraldian Order of Decrees

Modern modified Calvinism requires a particular order of decrees. The decree to make a free offer of the Gospel with a desire in God for the salvation of all men requires that the decree of redemption must precede the decree of election. This is the same order as the Amyraldian order of decrees.

It was out of His mere good pleasure that God elected some to everlasting life (Shorter Catechism, No. 20). In order, therefore, the decree of election must precede the decree of redemption.

In the doctrine of modern modified Calvinism, the decree of redemption could not follow the decree of election, because a desire in God to save all could not exist. When the decree of redemption follows that of election, the desire of God can only have respect to the elect, as is the case in Calvin’s Calvinism. In his system the free offer of the Gospel is a means to an end, namely, the fulfilment of God’s purposes in the separation of the elect from the reprobate. In modern modified Calvinism, the free offer has no end, because it is said to contain a desire in God for the salvation of all men, which is never fulfilled.

Modern modified Calvinism is therefore an inconsistent form of Amyraldianism. Its identity with that system may also be seen in the first three of the five points of Amyraldianism listed in the Appendix.